First Encounter
by Koragg
Summary: The youngest Princess goes to meet the new advisor.
1. Chapter 1

First Encounter

The five annual old princess was skipping happily down one of the many halls in the palace. Her dark hair bounced against her ivory skin and her small shoes clicked on the tile floor. Though, taking her time, she was on a mission.

A few days ago, DG had overheard some adults talking about the new advisor to the queen. They said he was odd, and withdrawn. And one, a fat duke she never really liked, said it was a wonder that such an awkward, young, klutz could ever be chosen to advise royalty.

She turned down a smaller hall. She had only seen him once, and thought he looked sad. He probably needed a friend, and the little princess knew she could fit the job description. DG stopped in front of the door to the lab and raised a small hand to knock. No one answered, but she heard moving inside. She pushed open the old door with a creak and entered the bright room.

Tables lined the walls with thousands of bright, delicate looking objects covering them and blue papers and pencils were strewn across the floor. After taking all this in the small princess them noticed the busy man over in the corner.

His brown hair was tousled, and he has rings under his eyes from avoiding sleep. Also he was murmuring something complicated under his breath and fiddling with a metal box thing.

She strolled over to the table, crossed her arms, and laid her head on them, watching him work. He didn't seem to notice, as caught up in thinking as he was.

After a while, she decided to say something, "You should sleep more."

His reaction she found extremely funny. The royal Advisor jumped, knocking half of the things off the desk, then fell backward over his chair, sending his long coat flying up over his face.

DG giggled as he struggled to untangle himself from the chair. Finally free, he popped his head up over the desk and looked at her in wonder.

"When did you get here, Princess?" he asked, still a bit flustered.

She walked around the small desk and smiled at him. "For a little bit, I was watching you work."

The man sat down and looked curiously at her, then proceeded to put everything back in place.

"My name is DG, what's yours?" the dark haired girl asked, sticking her hand out for a handshake.

"I'm Ambrose," he replied, taking the small hand into his own larger one "Mice to meet you."

DG smiled and her bright, blue eyes lit up, "We're going to become good friends." she glanced around with a thoughtful look on her face "but you're gonna need some decorations, it's really blank and serious in here."

Ambrose nodded "I guess your right, I never really thought of it before."

The little princess yawned, and Ambrose soon followed (what with yawning being so contagious)

"It's time for me to go to bed."

She came forward, and to his surprise, gave him a hug. "Good night, Ambrose!"

DG went bouncing out the way she came in.

Ambrose sat stunned for a moment, amazed by the small girl, then said to the empty room: "Goodnight."

The next day, she brought him flowers from the garden.


	2. Chapter 2: The Ball

Well, this was oringally going to be a one shot, but someone said "please write more." so I did. I don't think this is as good as the first chapter, and I'm sorry.

First Encounter

Chapter 2

DG stood in front of the tall mirror in her room and watched her reflection. There was a ball tonight and she had gotten a new dress for the occasion. It was blue with a white sash around the waist.

She stuck her tongue out and tilted her head. She hated balls, not because of having to dress up, nor even the music, it was because she couldn't dance.

DG laced up her shoes and remember her father laughing and declaring her "untaught able" when it came to dancing. She frowned and opened the door.

The halls were empty, everyone having already being in the ballroom. The dark haired princess glanced down the hall where she should go and turned………..and walked the other way.

Treading the familiar track, soon she was in front of the laboratory. DG hadn't seen the quiet inventor for awhile, he had been busy working on something called a Sun Seeder. He was probably still in there, working away, oblivious to the ball going on just down the hall.

She entered and found him pouring over charts and diagrams, once again looking like he didn't have time for sleep.

"Hi, Ambrose!" she called.

"Hm?" the advisor emerged from the papers, "Oh! Hello, DG. How are you?"

Ambrose stacked up the charts and diagrams and turned his full attention toward her. After all, she was the only one to ever venture all the way back here to see him.

She sighed, "I have to go to the ball." her slippered feet scrapped on the floor as she went over to examine the contents of a table. "but I can't dance."

Ambrose smiled "Everyone can dance, you just have to find your rhythm."

DG looked up at him with her bright blue eyes "Really?"

He nodded, making her smile "Ok, I guess I'll try again, but," the girl seized his sleeve, "you're coming with me."

"But-but I have to-" he tried but was cut off by the five annual-old.

"Nope! You're in here too much, you need a break Ambrose." and saying so, she drug him promptly out of the cold lab.

………………………………..

Ambrose felt awkward among the elegantly dressed figures twirling around the dance floor. So awkward in fact, that if he wasn't being pulled through it by DG who, sadly he admits, is his only friend, he would have turned and left immediately.

The small girl stopped in the middle of the room and smiled sweetly up at him.

"Will you dance with me?"

How could he refuse? He tales her tiny hand and she weaves her little fingers into his long, thin ones. He slowly steps to the right and she follows, stepping on his foot.

"I'm sorry, I'm terrible." she murmurs quietly and he bends down to her level.

"No you're not, just relax and listen to the music, ok?"

She nods and takes a deep breath. Starting again, they take a step to the right, then back, left, forward. Moving as one, turning with the music, enveloped by the gentle tune.

DG becomes lost in it, no longer worrying about her dancing and Ambrose feels a smile tug at his lips. She is dancing beautifully.

The song dwindles to a close and they come to a stop. The princess grins up at him. "That was fun! I'm so glad you're here!"

"So am I," he said, no longer feeling as awkward in the strange crowd. "So am I."


	3. Chapter 3: Happy Birthday?

First Encounter

Chapter 3

The chilled wind blew by, brushing at his exposed neck and face. In response, Ambrose hunkered down farther into his long trench coat, cursing his needed research.

The Sun Seeder was almost complete now. All that was left was the code input and the angles of the sun to the fields. And the Palace, just so happenly was surrounded by trees.

So here he was, a mile from the warm palace, in the snow, trying to angle the sun, on a cloudy say. Not his best idea.

"A-a-ambrose." came an almost unheard whisper.

He turned and gasped.

DG stood there, shin deep in snow, with a dress and jacket on. Her knees were wet from haven fallen and she was shivering non-stop. Without a thought, Ambrose threw his trench coat off and wrapped her tightly head to foot in it, leaving only her eyes and nose visible.

Scooping her up in his long, lightly covered arms he asked, "DG! Whatever are you doing out here? You'll get sick!"

She blinked her eyes, the only movement she was capable of. "I was going to give you a birthday present, but you left before I could find you."

Now he blinked. His birthday? He must of forgotten all about it. Come to think of it; how did she know about it?

"I was coming back," he started the long trek back, carrying DG, "You just had to wait. Now you might get sick."

DG looked up at him with those innocent eyes and saw him shivering, "What about you? Aren't you cold?"

He forced himself to stop shaking and lied, "No, I'm fine." to himself: Don't let my teeth chatter, don't let my teeth chatter….."I like the cold."

"But-"

"You should rest, young lady," the advisor said with a mock stern look on his face, "It's a while back to home."

She giggled and quieted down. In a few more minutes, she was fast asleep, breathing regularly against his chest.

By now, Ambrose felt numb with cold but he kept moving. Placing one unfelt foot in front of the other. Over and over.

………………………………...

The Queen with the lavender eyes had noticed her youngest child missing about ten minutes ago. She had flitted from one person to the next, asking. The most recent sighting, one maid said, was an hour ago. She wrung her hands as everyone looked for the small princess.

A servant came skidding in, " Your Majesty," he breathed, "DG is coming in the doors."

The Queen rushed to the front doors, and sure enough there was her DG, safe in her advisor's arms wrapped up in a coat. Relived, she came over and took the sleeping child into a loving embrace. "Oh, my angel," she breathed with a sigh. Oh, Thank goodness, he had brought her in.

"Thank You Ambr-" she looked up in time to see his eyes roll back in his head, and his body collapse to the tile floor. She worriedly checked for a pulse, it was there, but he was freezing to the touch and was a slight shade of blue.

"Adol, Corey!" she called and they ran up to her. "Please, hurry and take Ambrose to the infirmary. He needs immediate attention."

A while later she spoke with the head doctor. He was going to be fine, must be kept warm, but fine.

She smiled as he said, "Oh, when that boy wakes up, I'm gonna give an earful he'll never forget."

………………………………...

Ambrose awoke in a medical bed, his body burning, one of the after effects for being so cold.

"I -I can't wait till summer." he hoarsely stated to himself.

Something glittery caught his eye. It was a small, wrapped box on the stand by his bed. He slowly reached over and took it from it's precarious position on the edge. The tag said, in surprisingly neat writing:

Happy Birthday Ambrose

From: DG

This was the reason why she had followed him. With tired fingers he gently tore it open and lifted out it's contents.

It was two dolls made out of straw and cloth, bound together by a string. Dressed up to look like him and DG holding hands.


	4. Chapter 4

**First off, I'm sorry about this chapter. I am out off ideas and half-asleep. I will try to fix it up and make it better later. I am posting it because then, it will be staring me in the face till I fix it. I think there will be only one more chapter after this, then I plan to write Second Encounter (Glitch meets DG) Does anyone have any ideas to make this better before I fall asleep? Speaking of sleep, do you realize how many times that word is said in this ever so short chapter? yawn so sleepy…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz**

First Encounter

Chapter 4

After tossing and turning for a while, DG sat up in her bed. It was no use, she couldn't sleep. Tomorrow, the royal family was leaving the palace to take a short vacation at a place called Finaqua.

Pulling back the covers, DG got out of her soft, fluffy bed and placed her bare feet on the cool floor. She glanced over in her sister's direction before grabbing the candle on the nightstand. It was no use trying to wake Az. When she was asleep absolutely nothing could wake her.

It was scary outside their room, so quiet and dark………

………………………………...

"Ambrose." came a sing-song voice, "Ambrose! Wake up! Please…."

Groggily he rolled over and pried open his eyes. DG was standing there in her nightgown, with a puppy-dog look on.

"Are you ok?" he asked, sitting up with his short brown hair sticking out all over the place.

" I can't sleep." she stated, staring at him expectantly. Hm, what would help? Of course!

"Well, would you like to go have some Hot Chocolate with me? That doctor yelled at me for half-an-hour about keeping warm and it is a bit cold tonight, don't you think?"

She nodded happily, her small face lighting up, "Yeah! Let's go!" Grabbing his arm, she pulled him toward the kitchen.

As they walked DG realized that was the first time she had ever seen Ambrose asleep. That was…..odd. The busy inventor was normally up all the time, working on something.

"Why were you asleep?" she questioned, out of the blue, while they turned into the main hall.

He laughed, "Weren't you the one who said I need to sleep more? I finished the Sun Seeder project today, I thought I deserved sleep."

Kidnapping two cups of the warm liquid, the advisor and the princess made off like thieves all the way back to his room. Ambrose plopped down onto the small bed and DG climbed up with her chocolate and curled up next to him like a kitten.

"Ambrose?" she yawned widely.

"Yes?" he answered from above, yawning also. (still contagious)

"Thanks for being here for me." she whispered, drifting off into sleep with a tiny smile, "and for keeping the dolls."


	5. Chapter 5

This is to be countinued in the story Second Encounter.

First Encounter

Chapter 5

How could adults be so deaf?! She had tried and tried to tell them, but they just waved it off as a childish nightmare. And why couldn't mom and dad see that Azkadilla was different?

DG paced the balcony by her room, back and forth, wringing her hands in fear. (something picked up from her mother.)

"What should I do? What should I do?" she whispered to herself over and over in an endless chant.

"DG?" she snapped her head toward the sound. It was Ambrose and he was looking at her just like everyone else had been.

"If you don't believe me, leave me alone!" she spat venomously, closing her eyes to the world.

The sound of his footsteps came closer and stopped in front of her, but she stubbornly kept her brilliant eyes shut.

"I believe you."

DG looked up at him in hope. "You do? Really?"

"Every word." he smiled.

The young girl gave him a tackling hug "Oh Ambrose! Three was a cave and a witch, Az told me not to let go, but the witch was scary and I ran." She dug her wet face deeper in to his coat, "I let go and she fell. It's all my fault."

He patted her soothingly on the back, "It's ok, DG, it's ok. We'll find a way to fix it."

The news came as the clock chimed 9:00.

Dead. The youngest princess of the O.Z., DG, was dead.

N-no, he thought franticly to himself, that is not true. DG is alive, he had just spoken with her, hugged her. Th-the information was wrong, he had heard it wrong. The charming little blackhead was fast asleep and dreaming right now upstairs, safe and sound in bed.

"She's alive." Ambrose said aloud though no one else was there. He briskly strided back to the table and project he had been working on and started assembling it with shaking hands.

"Everything is fine. DG is-is-" the man stopped. DG. This project was for DG. Her birthday present that he had been working on for awhile, carefully hiding from sight and reach while she was awake and terrorizing the halls. She was going to love it, she was………….never going to play with it.

The painful waves of reality swept over him and Ambrose fell into his chair, feeling the gaping hole in his chest. Breathing was hard, so why bother?

The Royal Advisor to the Queen of the O.Z. drew his stinging eyes to the shelf above his bed, to the little straw dolls grasping each others hands.

He couldn't take it anymore.

He slammed his head into his arms and sobbed.

He was still there the next day.


End file.
